Former judge will mediate public defender lawsuit

Former Luzerne County Judge Joseph Van Jura will be paid $195 an hour as a special court master to help settle a lawsuit alleging gross underfunding of the county public defender's office, according to a court order.

Senior Judge Joseph M. Augello said he can't conduct settlement negotiations because he is "sitting as the finder of fact." Van Jura's compensation will include expenses, and he can't receive compensation for more than 30 hours, according to Augello's order.

Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania have asked Augello to issue an injunction that would force the county to provide attorneys to more than 450 indigent defendants. Those defendants don't have attorneys in their criminal proceedings because Al Flora Jr., Luzerne County's chief public defenders, has determined his attorneys are too overwhelmed with other cases.

After hearing arguments on the request for an injunction last week, Augello took the motion under advisement. An initial settlement conference must be held by June 8, Augello wrote.

The ACLU currently is representing Flora and three other plaintiffs, who have been denied legal representation in their criminal cases, and wants to bring a class action suit against the county.

Flora said Friday he can proceed with filling five vacant positions in his office, four public defenders and a secretary. The positions were funded in this year's budget, which allocates $2.5 million for the public defender's office, but Flora had claimed a hiring freeze prevented him from filling the positions.

During last week's hearing, county Manager Robert Lawton testified that Flora could fill those positions after submitting some paperwork. Lawton, who became county manager Feb. 29, said he wasn't aware Flora wanted vacant positions filled until after the lawsuit was filed April 10.

Flora said he expects to fill the vacant jobs sometime in July. Job applications are due June 4, Flora said.

New personnel regulations require Flora and the human resources office to determine the top applicants. The top 12-ranked lawyers to apply will be interviewed for the four public defender jobs, Flora said.

Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said filling the vacant jobs is "a positive development" but added, "That office needs substantially more resources than that."

During the county's argument in court last week, attorney Jack Dean noted no one on Flora' staff "quit because they were overworked" since Flora became public defender and started complaining about staffing levels in 2010.

A person who earns less than 175 percent of the federal poverty standards is presumed indigent and eligible for a public defender, according to Luzerne County's policy.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark 1963 case, Gideon v. Wainwright, that the Sixth Amendment gives poor defendants the right to counsel provided at state expense, even in petty criminal cases involving misdemeanor charges.

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2073

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